Theo's Request
by Pride of Ergastulum
Summary: Emma is out to prove that she can play with the big boys, but will Nic and Worick let her in on a new job from Theo? Some hints to events that happen in volume 5/6 of the manga.
1. Theo's Request

"No." Worick said firmly, "Absolutely not," Nic grunted in agreement from his spot by the window, "there is no way a rookie is even getting near this job."

"I am not a rookie!" Emma seethed, "besides neither of you can complete this job without it turning into a fiasco." Emma stared both of the Handymen down, refusing to give in. They had been arguing like this for over half an hour without coming to an agreement, it all started with Dr Theo's request the previous evening.

 _Emma caught the ball as Nina threw it back to her, they had both been kicked out of the clinic while Theo talked to Nicolas and Worick. She watched them out of the corner of her eye, her lip reading skills were average at best and that was without playing catch at the same time, though she still caught most of the conversation. "So what do you need Doc?" Worick asked, he seemed genuinely interested it wasn't too often she saw such a serious expression on his face._

 _The doctor sighed running a hand through his hair, "The Cristiano's ... to deliver a chemical...experiment, ...stolen en route ... get it back." Feeling a pair of eyes on her, Emma let her eyes drift to the left slightly, Nic was staring straight at her, 'Drat' she cursed internally 'he caught me' looking away as inconspicuously as possible she returned her attention to Nina just catching the ball before it hit her in the face. Letting a few moments pass she tried to catch another snippet of their conversation, she groaned as she saw that Nic had moved in front of the window completely blocking her view. 'He's too sharp,' she thought, resigning herself to finding out only half the details later on if that._

 _When the men finally exited the clinic the sun was beginning to sink behind the buildings, "Ready to go?" Worick asked, Emma's eyebrows drew together slightly, 'If I go now I won't have a chance to ask Theo about their conversation, but it'll look suspicious if I don't head back too.'_

 _Emma nodded reluctantly, pocketing the ball she and Nina had been playing with, and started to catch up with Nic and Worick, "Can't you stay for dinner?" a small voice called out, Nina latched onto Emma's arm. "Please," her big blue eyes pleaded with her, Emma couldn't help smiling it felt like most of the time she spent with Nina it was laying in the clinic injured, it would be nice to spend some normal time with her._

 _"Well don't mind if we do," Worick sauntered over, "I love your cooking Nina," the girl blushed at the compliment, her crush on Worick painfully obvious to everyone._

 _"She didn't ask you Handyman," Theo called from the clinic, leaning in the doorway so he could have a cigarette, "you're welcome to stay though kid," Emma smiled, happy for an opening to talk to the doctor alone. She stuck her tongue out at Worick as she let Nina drag her toward the door, but not before she caught the look of annoyance on Nic's face, ignoring him she continued inside._

 _Nina hurried off to the kitchen and soon a tantalising smell wafted into the main room of the clinic, an uncomfortable silence settled between her and Dr Theo, now that she finally had the opportunity to talk to him without Nic or Worick interrupting she couldn't figure out what to say. Dr Theo put the pack of cigarettes in the drawer then looked her straight in the eye, "You want to know about the job right?" Emma sat up straighter in the chair, she didn't think Theo had noticed her spying earlier._

 _"Yeah," she admitted, "I thought I could maybe help."_

 _Theo nodded, "I wanted you to at least listen in, but both of them refused."_

 _"Why?"_

 _A knock came at the door before she finished the question. A young man walked in, dressed in a smart suit and tie he was a far cry from the usual clientele of Theo's clinic, a scar marked the right side of his face although it did little to detract from his handsomeness, Emma was positive she had seen him somewhere before. "Hello Miss Handyman," he greeted her politely, "it's been a while," Emma blinked as her memory clicked into place, Marco Adriano, right hand man of the Cristiano's leader Loretta, probably the closest thing to a gentleman you could find in Ergastulum._

 _"Mr Adriano," she replied hesitantly, "good to see you're doing well."_

 _Dr Theo sighed, "The bearer of more bad news Marco? Then again your timing may be spot on, I was just filling Emma here in on our predicament."_

 _Marco smiled charmingly, "Actually I have some good news, but I'm surprised you haven't asked for the Handymen's help already." Emma snorted and looked away "Or should I guess that those two excluded you from their plans?" receiving no response he continued, "As you are aware the Cristiano family is in charge of the supply of Celebrer into the city, we can also procure other chemicals, however as the last shipment was being delivered to our compound it was ambushed."_

 _"Which is where my requested chemical was, and in exchange I got the three Cristiano men who were guarding the shipment to treat, they were beaten badly." Reading the question forming in Emma's eyes Theo added, "The chemical is essential for my research in creating a new Celebrer compound."_

 _Emma's eyes widened in surprise, "A new Celebrer compound?" the doctor nodded, "What's different about it?" 'Could he be making a Celebrer without the added toxicity and side effects?' it was almost too much for her to hope._

 _"A more potent compound, it'll exaggerate the effects of the uppers for a short period of time, but I'm still trying to stabilise it, the side effects are also magnified and could end up being fatal," Dr. Theo looked her straight in the eyes, she could tell he was being honest with her, her heart sank a little, her naive hope at a cure or at least a better treatment for Nicolas and the other Twilights in the city crushed._

 _But if they didn't get this chemical back for Dr Theo then when he decided to test this new drug, it wasn't even a question of if, then she knew who would be his lab rat, voluntarily or not, 'If Nic's going to be the guinea pig for this thing, then I want to him to suffer as little as possible.'_

 _Closing her eyes, she took a breath to calm her mind, "I found something that the Handymen might find useful," Emma's ears pricked up at the sound of Marco's voice, he was holding out some rolled up papers to the doctor._

 _"Blueprints?" she asked curiously, Marco nodded, now resolved she reached out to take them from him, "I'm in." A smirk tugged at Theo's lips as if he'd anticipated her answer all along._

 _"Dinner's ready!" the shout echoed out from the kitchen._

 _Marco quickly took his leave, while Emma stowed the blueprints safely out of sight she replied "Coming, it smells great Nina!" and hurried through to the kitchen, hoping the young girl hadn't overheard their conversation. Cracking each of her knuckles in turn, the cogs in her mind began grinding, 'I guess this is my first real job then,' she was itching to start studying those blueprints but pushed the thoughts from her mind, determined to enjoy Nina's dinner, and have a little bit of peace before the real work began._

Nic shook his head resolutely, then signed something quickly, Worick laughed "Exactly Nic, he says you shouldn't have been eavesdropping in the first place."

Emma resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at them knowing it would only make her seem as childish as they thought she was, "Technically I couldn't hear a thing through the window, so I couldn't have eavesdropped."

Nic snorted in disgust, 'Kid has been spending far too much time around us already,' he could sense this would be a losing battle but this job was different to what they usually did, more dangerous, usually they hit targets and left others to clean up the mess, this was an extraction job plus they didn't know what type of obstacles they'd face.

"Besides do you even know what you're facing security wise?" Emma asked staring them down," or were you just going to go in all guns, and swords, blazing hoping to find what you need?" Worick's face twisted in a grimace, he scratched the back of his head trying to find an answer, while Nic remained impassive as ever Emma knew he didn't have a plan either, "Thought so, well these might be of interest," taking the blueprints from the inside of her jacket she spread them over the office desk, Nic and Worick leaned over to see the plans clearly. "The building is the Ergastulum headquarters of a pharmaceutical company, it develops new drugs and it doesn't have any problem finding people to trial them in exchange for pittance," shuffling the papers she drew out the floor plan for the director's office," this is the top floor with the head honcho's office, while the floor plans show the office taking up the entire floor it's not exactly the case," grabbing a pencil she drew a line across the page cutting off about a third of the room, "I think that the safe containing the company's most valuable assets is in this area, which would include their recent acquisition of the chemical Dr Theo had ordered from the Cristiano's."

Nic tapped the table to get her attention, Worick translated the signing, too rapid for Emma to keep up, "How do you know that's the location of the safe? Wouldn't it make more sense for it to be with other chemicals down in their laboratories?"

Emma chewed her lip carefully considering her answer, "You would think so, but from observing the building today that office isn't big enough to be taking up the entire floor, plus I saw people bringing test tubes back to the office and placing them in the safe, the door is behind a large painting behind the desk."

"How the hell did you see all that?" Worick demanded.

"Ow," Emma cried as Nic gave her a clout around the back of the head, he looked even angrier than his friend, Emma shrank back slightly from him before explaining herself, "look I didn't go anywhere near the building okay, I picked a good rooftop with a view of the office and lay with binoculars for a good four hours this afternoon, it looks like they removed the materials from the safe at the beginning of the day and were returning them in the evening which was when I was watching them. There aren't many guards that patrol the building, I'd predict there will be less when the night shift comes on, if we find the shift change time it'll probably give us the best chance to get in and out."

"What do you mean us?" Worick demanded, "You aren't involved in this job, where did you even get all this anyway?"

Emma sighed, she had known it would be this difficult to get them on board, "Marco dropped them off at Theo's last night before dinner," she admitted, "it wasn't hard to find the building and then just wait and watch, its standard recon." Nic's face twitched into a half smile, it wasn't often Worick got schooled by anyone, "The easiest way into the office would be to scale the outside and climb in through the window, there weren't any security guards stationed in the actual office, someone could feasibly slip in and out of there in five minutes in the best possible scenario."

"Well thanks for the info but Nic and I can take it from here," Worick's tone left little room for arguments, but Emma was determined not to be shut out of this.

"No, you can't," she insisted, before Worick could butt in again she quickly continued, "I'll admit that you're in good shape and there's no doubt that Nic could jump up there easily but do you really think either of you could do it quietly enough to avoid raising an alarm. I'm good at climbing and doing it quietly, I slipped into Ergastulum undetected, this building's old with tonnes of decorative stone work it'll provide enough foot holds once I've climbed up the gutter on the side."

'This kid just doesn't give up,' Nic groaned internally, he signed to her, "Are you sure this isn't just about your pride?"

Emma stiffened up slightly, he'd hit a nerve, "I do want to prove myself, I've been here a month and I've done nothing to earn my place here," frustration leaked into her voice, Nic could see her fists tightening, "but at the same time it's about your pride as well, you both think that I'm just some weak little kid, and that you don't need any help." Nic began to shake his head but she held up a hand to stop him, "Don't patronize me Nicolas. Putting all of our egos aside, I'm still the best person for the job no matter which way you split it, I can do this, and I'd rather be part of the plan than just sit here and watch you two fail and possibly get yourselves killed." Tears threatened to spill over as she thought about what Dr Theo had said about the drug he was developing, if he can at least make it safer for Nic to take then it'll be worth it and maybe one day he'll have enough time to work on a cure for the Celebrer poisoning effects, she clung on to that small hope as she looked Nic straight in the eye.

"Fine," he said aloud, his deep voice filling the room, Emma looked up in surprise struggling to keep the grin off her face.

"You can't really mean this partner?" Worick asked incredulous.

Nic nodded before adding, "One condition."


	2. Nic's Test

"What condition?" Emma asked suddenly nervous that Nic might set her an impossible task.

"Hide from me for one hour, I find you, you don't come on the job," he signed back. 'If she's going to insist on coming on this job then she has to be able enough to get away safely,' Nic thought, he wanted to protect her but she was impossibly stubborn, normally he thought it was a good thing, not today.

Emma bit her lip thinking the proposal over, "Definition of find." Nic grinned, 'good she's taking this seriously,' he pointed to his eyes then to her. "Deal," she nodded, this was the best way to gain Nic's acceptance.

Nic glanced up at the clock it was almost nine at night, the city was already shrouded in darkness, "I'll give you ten minutes head start, as soon as it hits nine I'll come after you and won't stop until the clocks chime ten."

Emma nodded then unbuckled her sword and set it in the corner, "Touch that and you're dead," she warned Worick, "see you at ten boys," smirking she opened the window and climbed up onto the rooftop, she ran quickly hoping to put as much distance between her and Nic as possible, but without disturbing the any of the roof tiles. The nighttime breeze teased the loose strands of hair around her face, it felt good to be free to run around, but she couldn't let herself become too distracted. This was a mission, successfully run and hide from the enemy, she hated to think of Nic that way but it was the only way she could think of him if she wanted to win this, with his keener sense of smell and sharp instincts he would be a lot harder to hide from than any normal person plus he was far more familiar with the terrain than she was.

Dropping down to street level Emma heard a cry of shock from behind her, she'd ended up in front of Granny Joel's shop, half turning around she waved to the startled old woman, "Sorry Granny can't stop," and leapt over the wall across from the shop.

"What on earth is that child doing out at this time of night?" Joel muttered to herself, she had just been closing up the shop when the child had dropped straight out of the sky, "nearly gave me a heart attack."

Emma giggled slightly to herself, the look on Granny's face was priceless, 'I hope she doesn't give me away,' the thought crossed her mind but it didn't particularly matter she could have taken a dozen different turns since the shop, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves. "If I needed to hide where would I go?" she asked herself, climbing a nearby wall to get back onto a rooftop to get a better view of the city, she crouched behind a chimney, although her ten minutes weren't up survival mode was telling her that Nic could have well have set off early. "So the colony is off limits, district 4 is Corsica's territory, and I better steer clear of District 3, Mr Monroe probably wouldn't mind but I don't want to create a source of amusement for them, they'd probably place bets on the winner if they knew what was going on," her list of options were narrowing but the city was huge there were plenty of abandoned buildings for her to hide in at least temporarily, "not the red light district, I don't even care if that makes me predictable, the best bet is probably a warehouse in District 6 at least to begin with."

Letting her hair hang loose for a few seconds she shook as many free hairs out as possible, then retied her hair tightly into a bun instead of her usual ponytail, she didn't doubt that Nic may pick up her trail if she was leaving hair everywhere. Straightening up, she risked a quick glance around the rooftops and down towards the street, at least he wasn't in sight, yet, then jumped across to the next rooftop beginning to make her way to District 6.

True to his word Nic didn't leave the apartment until nine o'clock exactly, as he walked along the quiet streets he remembered his conversation with Worick just before leaving the apartment.

"Nic are you sure it's okay to let her do this?" Worick asked, concerning written all over his face, "She could get hurt out there at this time of night."

Nic sighed, "If she can't protect herself on a normal night then she has no place on a job like this, besides she's already proved she can take care of herself."

Worick lit a cigarette, taking a long drag before answering, "Do you think she's right about this job for the Doc?"

Nic shrugged as he put on his jacket and walked out of the door katana in hand. Honestly Nic thought Emma would be more useful than Worick on a job like this, stealth would be a much better option than Worick trying to talk their way into the building. Taking in a deep breath of night air, he headed towards Granny Joel's tobacco shop, he decided to have some fun tonight it had been a while since he had let loose.

Walking past the shop he felt something lightly hit his chest, looking down he saw a walking stick was barring his way he saw with surprise that Granny Joel was still in the shop, "So handyman, want to tell me why that kid of yours is running around at all hours of the night?" Nic began to raise his hands to reply but Joel cut in, "Use. Your. Words."

Nic cursed, the old woman always had to make life difficult, "Hide and Seek, and she isn't my kid," he growled pushing the walking stick aside.

"Well she better come back safe," Granny Joel warned him. Nicolas waved as he walked off, so far he'd easily been tracking Emma's scent, while most of the adversaries they might come across wouldn't have his heightened sense of smell, the whole point of his challenge was for her to be able to avoid the worst case scenario. Leaping easily onto a nearby balcony he continued onto the roof, he let his eyes scan the surroundings, a devilish grim spread across his face, 'Let the game begin,' he thought.

Emma rolled around on the dirt floor of the abandoned warehouse, it wasn't much but it at least it was an attempt to try and mask her scent, "I can't wait for a shower after this," she grumbled, Nic had left the apartment at least ten minutes ago, her hands shook slightly as the adrenaline coursed through her. There hadn't been any signs of him tailing her so far, but it was far too early to get complacent, this challenge was only going to get more intense as time ran out, she should breath easily while she could.

She jumped at the sound of the door being forced, a cold sweat broke on her forehead, 'Calm down' she told herself, 'Nic wouldn't use the door at any rate it's a stupid idea, it was probably someone trying to get a roof over their head for the night,' she thought sadly creeping towards a window at the opposite side of the building. Quickly checking the area outside, Emam levered herself off the ledge letting the gutter support her weight, at the bottom she moved into the shadows of the unlit alley, and took off running towards the south, heading further away from the Handymen headquarters. Safely a few streets away she took one last look at the warehouse just in time to see a figure climbing in through a window, the figure was the outline of a man, a man carrying a sword, Emma cursed under her breath and picked up the pace, she spat on the ground a few feet away from her hoping to create an illusion of her going in the opposite direction.

Nic glanced furtively around the abandoned warehouse, it was pretty bare apart from the crates spread randomly around the floor, walking around first floor balcony his eyes scanned the ground floor for any sign of movement, dropping down he scanned the dirt floor for footprints. A small trail of footprints lead towards a stack of crates that would make reaching the first floor ledge easy, looking up he saw the window had been left open a crack, smirking he leapt up and fully opened the window. Leaning out of the window he closed his eyes breathing in the air, he frowned, her scent was muted now 'This might be harder than I thought,' he admitted to himself, underestimating the kid was a distinct possibility, he knew almost nothing of her past but at the same time she hadn't tried to pry into his life either. 'She fights too well for it to be a hobby,' Nic carefully considered her skills, the way she fought and analysed situations wasn't like an ordinary twenty-year-old, plus the way she laid out a plan for stealing back Theo's chemical was realistic, not over the top, almost like she'd done stuff like this before. Standing on a roof he scanned the surrounding area, annoyed he ran across the rooftops, 'It shouldn't be this hard to spot her,' he cursed, his eyes never failed him, even in the dark, catching flash of movement to his right a smirk came to his lips, 'got you.'

Sweat began to roll down Emma's face as she ran through the streets of Ergastulum constantly changing direction, and going from street to roof level, her game of cat and mouse with Nic had already lasted over half an hour, at each location she stopped at he'd turned up barely minutes after she'd left, while the dirt on her clothes had slowed Nic down slightly the intervals between her leaving a location and him arriving were getting shorter. 'I don't know if I'll last much longer," she thought, panting heavily as she leaned against a wall for a couple of seconds. Hearing a sound from the end of the alleyway, she tried to open the side door next to her, Emma let out the breath she was holding as it the door opened, flinching as the hinges squeaked slipping through the gap in the door she closed it quickly and quietly before running to the end of the corridor and climbing the second set of the stairs. Her hoodie soaked through with sweat felt heavier than before, she pitched forward tripping on the stairs as she took them two at a time, sprawling onto her hands and knees her stifled cry echoed through the stairwell. Her lip bled from the force she had bitten it in attempt to keep quiet, even though Nic was supposed to be totally deaf Emma felt like he reacted way too quickly to sounds, then again it could have been anyone entering the building, but it was better to be safe than lose the game and not get to help out with the job.

Exiting the stairwell at one level below the top, walking stealthily along the corridor checking the doors, a low moan escaped her lips as she realised almost all the doors were locked, Emma's heartbeat pounded in her chest as she reached the last two doors, footsteps echoed from the stairwell. She swallowed hard, 'I've only got time to try one of these doors,' diving to the left she turned the handle, sending up a silent prayer as it clicked open, she slipped through the smallest gap possible and closed the door behind her.

The door opened into a storeroom filled with crates and boxes, spotting a small door that presumably lead to an attic she ran towards it jumping onto a crate, standing on her tiptoes Emma desperately tried to release the latch, the door finally fell open, but hearing the door click she abandoned the trapdoor and jumped to the floor soundlessly. Keeping behind the boxes and out of sight to whoever else was in there Emma slowly crept round to the solitary window in the room, the window was already half open, it was a big enough gap for her to crawl out if she could reach it. Palms slick with sweat she kept crawling slowly straining her ears for the sound of footsteps, it sounded like whoever else was there was just watching the room, not relying on just her hearing she manoeuvred around the boxes getting a clear view of the room.

Nic moved lithely around the room almost like a cat, his dark hair fluttering gently in the breeze, time was running out for both of them, the trapdoor being left open was probably a ruse but he felt that he should double check just to make sure, keeping the window on the other side of the room in his line of sight. It was the most plausible escape route left in the room.

Heart hammering, Emma was sure Nic could feel the vibrations of it throughout the room, her pulse so loud in her ears it was hard to think, she was crouched a foot away from the window, but Nic's eagle eyes were trained at the window, 'my only opportunity will be if he looks in the attic. He has to,' Emma thought to herself, 'he's too vigilant not to,' counting on that fact she noticed a trapdoor beneath her feet, 'it must lead to the floor below,' an idea sparked in her head, while opening the trapdoor might create too much movement but if she released the latch ever so slightly it might create another distraction that would give her some time. Keeping an eye trained on Nic she slowly eased the latch half open, hoping Nic would eventually look in the attic, she'd have a split second to dive out the window when he did. Holding her breath, she waited as the seconds ticked by, slipping her shoes and socks off, to minimise any noise she shifted ever so slightly toward the window, it was then she saw Nic pull himself up to look in the attic. Emma dived in one fluid motion out of the window, hurtling towards the ground she rolled into a ball absorbing the impact on her shoulder, the momentum carried her across the street into the shadows of the alley across from the building. Rolling onto her feet she sprinted barefoot through the streets, she tried to briefly check her watch but it was too dark to see it clearly, 'I hope it's almost ten,' she thought.

Shivering against the cold night time breeze Emma blew on her fingers trying to eke some warmth into them, 'It might be worthwhile climbing to a rooftop,' she debated the idea, the rooftop would leave her more exposed, but she would get a view of the clock tower and might be able to spot Nic from up there. Jamming her fingertips into a small gap in the brickwork, Emma began to pull herself up ignoring the screaming coming from her fingers, numb from the cold it was difficult to find good handholds. Her shoes were now stuffed down the front of her hoodie, despite scraping her feet off the brickwork it gave her better purchase, finally she managed to grab the first floor window sill. With her feet now firmly planted on the ledge she leaned against the wall taking in a few deep breaths, 'Almost there,' encouraging herself she continued scaling the wall.

The overhang provided some shelter from the biting wind, Emma hugged the wall tightly her fingers cramping from the cold and holding her weight for so long, her breath hitched in her throat as a small stone fell from the roof above. Slowly and carefully she brought her feet up wedging them in the gap between the wall and the tiles, and pressed her body as close as possible into the space created by the overhang. Holding her breath she waited for any further movement from the roof.

Nic stood on the edge of the rooftop, 'Kid's fast and sneaky,' his lips pressed together in annoyance, he'd been this close to catching her a dozen times over the allotted hour but she'd always slipped by him the chase had them crossing the city at least twice and entering at least half of the city's districts, 'never thought she could cover this much ground.' He sniffed at the night air trying to catch her scent, he was sure he was close, this would be his last chance otherwise he'd have to include her in the job, it wasn't her skill he doubted but some part of Nic just didn't want to let her be put in harms way. Somewhere in the distance the clock tower began to let out its chime, glancing at his watch Nic saw there was less than a minute left, his eyes darted around the surrounding rooftops and streets but there was no sign of her. Sighing Nic stepped off the rooftop landing gracefully on the street, 'Damn, thought I could keep her out of this,' sensing something he whipped around katana raised in its sheath, Emma hurtled towards him seemingly having dropped from the sky dropping his katana he reached out to catch her.

Emma breathed a sigh of relief as Nic caught her, after hearing the last of the ten chimes her fingers and feet gave up on her, leaving her falling straight towards the ground and Nic who had appeared from above her. "Hehe," Nic looked kind of annoyed but Emma was sure he'd had some fun chasing her around the city, apart from some of the heart stopping moments of nearly falling or worse getting caught she had really enjoyed herself. "I won right?" Nic nodded reluctantly setting her down, Emma grabbed onto his arm and took her shoes out from her hoodie slipping them on without the socks, "let's go back," and started walking down the street. Nic grumbled grabbing her sleeve and pulled her in the other direction.

A strong gust of wind blew past them, Emma shivered violently, her clothes soaked through with sweat meant the wind chilled her to the bone, Nic rolled his eyes draping his jacket around her shoulders, Emma flashed him a smile of thanks it always amazed him how sincere she looked. Her face was an open book, it gave her a childlike innocence reminding him of Nina, he wanted to protect that expression but he'd already lost the battle this time, though why she wanted the most dangerous part of the job was beyond him. Her shoulder brushed against his, Nic always forgot about their lack of difference in height, Emma's youthful appearance always made him think of her as a lot shorter than she really was.

Swaying slightly as they walked Emma bumped into Nic a few times, fighting off a yawn she began humming an upbeat tune to keep herself awake, content to follow Nic back to the apartment, enjoying the companionable silence she noticed a familiar looking sign in the distance. "We're at Theo's!" Emma exclaimed happily tugging on Nic's shirtsleeve, "not lost anymore," feeling a surge of energy a spring entered her step as they approached the clinic, a familiar figure lounged against the wall smoke drifting upwards from them.

Theo stubbed the cigarette out against the wall, "What are you two doing out so late?"

"Playing hide and seek," Emma replied, a little giddy, "I won!"

"Couldn't handle a kid Nicolas?" the doctor asked smirking to himself, 'Looks like she won him over,' he thought to himself as Nic shrugged, glaring at him over Emma's head.

They continued on their way, Emma yawned loudly stretching out like a cat, her thoughts became jumbled as she rubbed at her eyes in an attempt to keep herself awake, pulling Nic's jacket closer around her shoulders she yawned again, the jacket was so warm it made her feel even sleepier. Nic watched as she continued to slow their pace, 'It's getting cold out,' he complained to himself, tapping her on the arm Nic crouched down slightly, Emma stared at him dumbfounded her tired brain not processing anything, rolling his eyes in exasperation Nic pulled one of her arms around his neck. Finally catching on to what was happening she clasped her hands around his neck, Nic lifted her up an arm supporting each of her legs, 'Why is she so light?' honestly to him she weighed almost nothing, with her falling asleep almost instantly he picked up the pace but kept his strides even to prevent jostling her. Her face nuzzled in to the crook of his collarbone, her warm breath tickling his skin, Nic slowly climbed the stairs to the apartment and opened the door, Worick was still awake reading by the lamplight.

"So, how'd it go?" Worick asked a confident smile spread across his face.

Nic gently laid the sleeping girl on the sofa, placing a nearby blanket over her, he watched as she settled, murmuring in her sleep before he turned to Worick, "She got me," he signed.

"No way!" Worick exclaimed, he snorted in disgust, "now I owe Ally dinner," Nic raised a finger to his lips urgently, Emma stirred slightly but didn't show any signs of waking up.

Nic only shrugged before grabbing a soda off the counter, he took a few sips before addressing Worick again, "Kid's got skill, I'm off to bed," he walked off ignoring his friend's string of questions a frown settled on his face, this job from Theo wasn't easy in the first place and now he had to make sure the kid didn't get herself killed, life just kept getting better.


	3. Stakeout

The gravel left imprints on Emma's hand as she lifted the binoculars up to her face, focussing them she looked into the window of their target building. The window looked into a fancy office, a middle aged man sat behind the desk signing papers, Emma sighed, it had been like this for the past three hours and her shoulders were getting sore, carefully she circled each shoulder making sure they weren't being watched. Then a few people walked into the room, two wore lab coats and gloves, one carried a tray filled with test tubes and flasks, the other man with them appeared to be a security guard, hand gun holstered on his hip, reaching over Emma tapped Nic on the shoulder, rolling over he got into a position where he could see in the window too, 'It's like he has binoculars built in to his head,' she grumbled to herself. The scientists spoke to the man at the desk but she couldn't tell what they were saying, hoping that Nic would pick up on it she shifted focus to the picture behind the desk. The man swung the picture to the left like a door revealing the door to a safe, Emma shifted around slightly to get a better view of the safe, he pressed his index finger on to a screen, then opening the safe the scientist carefully carried the test tube rack into the safe. Several moments later the scientists exited the safe carrying the now empty test tube rack, as soon as the door to the safe closed the security guard left the office, while the older man talked jovially with the scientists for five minutes or so, after they left Emma sat up slightly brushing the gravel off her hoodie.

Turning to her Nic signed, "What about the lock?" Emma shrugged, she hadn't anticipated the level of security to be this high, obviously the company had enough faith in the biometrics since there didn't appear to be many guards posted in the building. Nic shook his head, this job just kept getting more complicated, first the kid insisted on working it, now they had fingerprint scanners to deal with, just what on earth was so special about the chemical Theo was using that it would be stolen and held in a place like this. "I want to see how many guards are on night shift." Emma nodded to his request, lowering the binoculars she rubbed at her eyes and yawned, Nic snorted with laughter, "Someone need a nap?"

Sticking her tongue out at him she replied signing, "Not a chance!" Nic smirked at her response, clumsy though it was, and reached over to flick her forehead, swatting his hand away Emma mouthed, "who napped most of the afternoon again?" This time it was Nic who stuck out his tongue, but they both knew he had only been pretending to sleep, he kept an eye out on their surroundings to make sure no one spied on their spying. "Did you catch what they were saying?" she asked carefully wording the question to deny Nic the opportunity to use one of his 'I heard nothing' jokes, 'Honestly he can be far too sassy at times,' she thought a smile touching the corners of her lips.

Emma watched the reply carefully, she usually understood Nic's signing even if her own wasn't very good yet, the tattered sign language book was always in either her or Alex's hands both of them wanting to communicate more easily with Nic, "Nothing much, just that whatever experiment they're doing isn't really progressing, then they talked about their golf game." Emma nodded it wasn't like she expected them to reveal some big secret that would help them crack the safe anyway, settling back down Emma switched to looking at the front entrance of the building most of the workers were beginning to leave for the day, aside from the director, she counted around forty workers, relatively small workforce but this building just seemed to be an outpost for a large company, besides not many people would volunteer to work in Ergastulum.

The next couple of hours passed by slowly with the security guards in the building only making a few passes through each of the floors including the office on the top floor, Emma's stomach growled noisily, blushing she reached into her rucksack pulling out a bar of chocolate. The chocolate melting on her tongue was heavenly, although it didn't do much to satisfy her hunger, she held out the chocolate to Nic offering him some, his eyebrows rose up in surprise, he broke off a large chunk leaving her with only a couple of bits left. "Greedy guts!" Emma punched him in the arm.

Nic turned away biting into the chocolate chuckling silently, the chocolate was good, not too sweet with a bitter aftertaste. He looked over at Emma, she held one of the last bits of chocolate between her teeth while she pouted, 'Teasing her was as fun as teasing Nina, they always take the bait,' smiling to himself Nic returned his attention to the building, three men dressed in smart trousers and fleeces entered, 'must be the night guards.' Soon after five security guards that had been around in the afternoon then left, after waiting an extra half an hour to be safe they finally made to leave the rooftop and head home.

Emma crawled over to the opposite edge of the roof, keeping out of sight of anyone who may have been watching, it would be safer to climb down from a couple of buildings over at least that's what she told herself as she looked at the sizeable gap between this building and the next one over. Nic waited on her, he'd already leapt the gap easily, Emma swallowed hard then straightening up she took a few steps back and taking a running start launched herself off the rooftop, wind milling her arms furiously she made an ungraceful landing, 'Least I stayed upright,' Nic gave her a thumbs up, struggling to contain his laughter, giving him a playful shove, she easily made the next rooftop which was mercifully closer. Giving one last look to their surroundings Nic reached out and picked up Emma easily, "What are you doing?" Emma pounded on his chest trying to get him to let go, rolling his eyes Nic stepped off the rooftop, yelping in surprise Emma screwed her eyes shut, the wind whipping past her as they fell toward the ground, barely feeling the landing she opened her breathing a sigh of relief. Realising that she was tightly holding on to Nic's shirt Emma let go quickly as Nic set her on her feet, face flushed red with embarrassment she turned away from him walking off in the direction of the apartment, "A bit of warning might be nice," she muttered under her breath, heart still pounding from the fall, even though she felt totally safe with Nic falling was still the most terrifying experience in her mind.

When they finally got back it was already dark, sitting down on the floor of the main room Emma smiled as Alex handed her a steaming mug of cocoa. "Thanks Alex," she smiled appreciatively, savouring the warmth of the mug in her hands, the scent of cocoa wafted up tickling her nostrils, finally able to relax she now felt kind of sleepy, but knew that Worick would want to talk about what they found out, he was still bitter about being largely left out of the job. Nic sat down on the sofa close by, nursing a cup of coffee, it was nice to be back inside after spending all afternoon and evening on that rooftop, his stomach growled a little as he caught the scent of cooking downstairs, sure enough Alex came up from the kitchen carrying four plates of spaghetti.

Emma dug in to the food with reckless abandon burning her mouth on the tomato sauce but she was too hungry to care, "It's great Alex," she mumbled through a mouthful.

"Glad you like it," Alex laughed before glancing over at Nic, he shrugged while swallowing a mouthful, but half of his plate was already gone, she rolled her eyes at him, 'it wouldn't hurt for him to be a little more vocal,' she thought.

"Is that Ally's home cooking I smell?" Worick grinned emerging from his room, he went to grab the last plate but Nic pulled it closer to him, claiming it, "very funny Nicolas, Ally made this for me." Pulling the plate back towards himself, Worick moved over to sit by Alex rubbing his cheek against hers, she sighed used to his behaviour. Several minutes of silence followed as they all concentrated on eating after the long day. "So find out anything useful?" Worick pouted still miffed at being left out.

"Uh huh," Emma mumbled swallowing her last mouthful of spaghetti, "There's about forty or so scientists working through the day plus the Director, they usually leave between five and seven in the evening. Five security guards are on duty during the day and three guard the building at night."

"The guards change over at nine," Nic added putting his fork down, "it's probably best if we hit the building once the day staff have all left."

Worick nodded considering the new information, "Sounds reasonable, could you see what type of security the safe has?"

Emma frowned her eyebrows coming together, "That's the problem, the safe is locked with fingerprint biometrics, and its set to the Director of the facility. We need to find a way to either trick it or bypass it, either way it won't be easy."

Resting his chin on his hand he stroked the stubble on his chin, "Hmm, really throws a spanner in the works right?"

She nodded, "If it was locked by a key or was even a traditional safe with tumblers and stuff it would be pretty easy to break into with the right tools, even a password or code lock we could have just watched him putting it in. It's harder to get past biometrics but it's not impossible."

"Can't you just break the door down?" Alex piped up, entering the conversation.

Emma smiled weakly, "We could try but it would cause a lot more noise and damage which isn't what we're going for, plus there's something else I'm worried about, Nic can you pass me the blueprints of the office?" Taking the papers of Nic she spread them out on the table, "Remember how I said the area behind this line wasn't actually the office but the safe?" three heads nodded back at her, taking a pencil from her pocket Emma drew two more lines on the page creating a rectangular section in the centre of the hidden part of the room leaving space either side, "from what I saw when they opened the safe today it wasn't that big and probably only covers this area, leaving two pockets of space, plus the gas lines go through these areas according to the plans. I'm worried that if you force the lock then there could be a mechanism that will destroy everything in the safe, those two spaces are big enough to have gas tanks or something in them which could be set up to create a fire and burn whatever is in the safe."

Worick leaned back into the sofa covering his eye with his hand, "That's a pretty big 'if' kid. The space could just be extensions of the safe." Emma shrugged, wrinkling her nose as he lit a cigarette blowing smoke in her direction.

Tapping her on the shoulder Nic asked, "You really think they would destroy stuff they had to steal to get?"

Carefully considering her answer Emma replied, "I can't be sure but it's what I'd do if I were them, better that no one has something than it falls into unknown hands." Nic nodded accepting her answer, then picked up her mug of cocoa drinking it himself, "Hey stop stealing my stuff again!" He grunted as he felt her fist whack his shin, smirking he returned the mug to her, Emma clutched the mug in both hands downing the rest of the cocoa, her face screwed up at the bitterness of the cocoa near the bottom of the mug, a small ripple of laughter rang throughout the room, it was difficult not to join in.

Once the laughter died down the business like atmosphere descended over them again, "So how can you get past the lock?" Alex asked brushing her dark hair out of her eyes.

"Two options; lift the director's fingerprints from somewhere in the office transfer them to a piece of paper and hope the lock accepts it, or try and fiddle with the wiring of the lock. But I don't know anything about electronics plus tampering with the lock could activate the destruction of the safe contents if that mechanism exists," Emma sighed rubbing the back of her head, it was getting late and honestly she just wanted to go to bed, stifling a yawn she continued, "it isn't too difficult to lift fingerprints so I think if we could get the materials to do it then it's our best bet."

Worick reluctantly nodded, "Still think you can do it? Collecting the fingerprints will add extra time, you might be discovered."

"Well a diversion might not be a bad idea," Emma yawned, "it'll draw the guards out to the front of the building and disrupt the pattern of their rounds."

"I'll take care of that," Nic interjected, "the quicker we do this the better, it's becoming a pain."

"Tomorrow then?" Worick suggested, Emma murmured her assent, yawning loudly, leaning back against the base of the sofa she fought against her heavy eyelids, "Well I'm off to bed, want to join me Ally?" Worick winked.

"In your dreams," Alex scoffed, Emma smiled at their back and forth exchange, dozing off her head tilted to the left resting against Nic's knee, she fell asleep sitting on the floor with the pleasant chatter of the Handymen's office around her.

Worick leaned lazily against the wall, he'd been woken up at seven that morning from all the noise Emma and Nic had been making, hammering out the details of their plan for the job that night, evidently Nic had been trying to convince her to let one of them take on the more dangerous part of the job. 'I hate mornings,' lighting a cigarette he took a long drag, blowing the smoke up towards the sky, even the three cups of coffee hadn't done much to improve his mood, "Why did I have to come anyway?" he moaned.

"Just because," Emma hummed merrily, almost skipping along, buzzing with nervous energy she'd woken up at five, unable to get back to sleep she'd sat studying the building's blueprints, after Nic was up they'd went to the downstairs room of the Handymen's apartment to do a little sparring. Around seven Worick had stomped down the stairs complaining about his disrupted beauty sleep, she couldn't help but laugh at his expression coupled with his bedhead. They were outside the back entrance to Bastard, the nightclub owned by the Cristiano's, Emma rapped loudly on the door a few times, after five minutes there was no answer raising her hand to knock again a fist appeared at the side of her face, Nic's fist hit the door three times, covering her ears at the noise she looked in shock at the large dent created in the door. "Well that'll do it."

Hearing footsteps hurriedly approaching Emma pushed Worick in front of her to greet whoever opened the door, "What the heck?" Worick exclaimed, she shrugged and hid behind Nic, honestly she just hated talking to strangers beside everyone here knew Nic and Worick. One of the bar staff opened the door a lock of sheer panic on his face, "Hey there, sorry to cause such a ruckus this early in the morning, is Marco in by any chance?" Worick's charming smile did the trick, the man's face relaxed upon seeing that it was just the Handymen at the door and not someone trying to break in, nodding he ran back inside calling for Marco.

Marco appeared a few minutes later followed by Galahad, "To what do we owe this pleasure Worick?" inspecting the new dent in the steel door he added, "I can assume this is Nicolas' handiwork."

Galahad's voice boomed out loudly as he laughed, "This is nothin' Marco!" He struck the other side of the door smoothing out the dent in one hit, Emma whistled in appreciation, 'Galahad has to be at least as strong as Nic,' the tags clinked together proudly on Galahad's chest but the side with his rank faced inward preventing her from seeing it. She knew that all Twilights had to pay some compensation for their enhanced abilities, like Nic's deafness, but from the couple of times she had met Galahad there didn't appear to be anything wrong with him, he was a muscle bound giant with an unusually sunny disposition.

"Actually it was me that wanted to talk to you, if that's okay?" Emma peeked out from behind Nic and approached them, her expression business like.

Marco smiled, "Of course I assume it's about the job for Dr. Theo."

Emma nodded, "I need to know the name of the chemical Dr. Theo asked for, what it looks like, if there are any precautions when handling it," she blushed slightly, embarrassed at how she was ordering around a high ranking family member like Marco.

Galahad guffawed, "Didn't know the Handymen actually had someone competent on their team, and cute to boot too." The blush rose right to her ears now, Emma squeaked in surprise as Galahad leaned forward and stroked her face lightly with the back of his finger, two hands clamped around her shoulders and pulled her backwards almost knocking her off her feet. "Haha, what's your problem Nicolas?" Galahad retreated, leaning back against the doorframe nonchalantly, looking up she saw Nic merely shake his head at the taller man, a smile tugged at her lips, it felt oddly safe being this close to Nic.

"Galahad behave yourself," Marco chided, turning back towards her he smiled gently, "I'll get someone to find the information for you, it should only take a few minutes," he disappeared back inside the building.

Worick naturally struck up a conversation with Galahad, she rolled her eyes as their talk turned to girls, feeling Nic's hands still firmly on her shoulders she looked up at Nic again tapping his leg to get his attention, "Uh you can let go now you know," he grunted in reply as he released his grip on her. Touching a hand to her shoulder Emma could still feel the warmth from Nic's hands, it was comforting to find someone so warm in this harsh city, she moved away a little perching on top of one of the boxes left in the alleyway, quietly singing under her breath. While they waited for Marco to return a van pulled up at the entrance to the alleyway, "Connie?" Emma recognised the driver with surprise, 'What's Connie doing here?' jumping off the box, she ran up to the van window, "Hi Connie!"

Rolling down the window Connie leaned out of the van, "Hey Emma, what are you guys doing here?"

"We came to ask Marco a couple of things," Emma replied returning the other girl's smile, Connie's grin was even more infectious than Nina's, "how come you're here though?"

Connie winked, "I supply the Cristiano's with their guns, they know that you need good quality weapons," Emma nodded in understanding.

Seeing the van, Galahad sauntered over, "Hello Miss Raveau you got the usual delivery?"

"You know it Gal, fancy giving a girl a hand to shift it?" Galahad mock bowed in response, then moved around to open up the back of the van. Nicolas wandered over and proceeded to help Galahad unload the van, letting the men do the heavy lifting the girls chatted idly.

Setting down the last crate Nic stretched out his back, 'What are those two talking about?' he wondered, Emma and Connie had been talking the whole time, frowning he saw an unusually serious expression on the gun shop owner's face, clicking his tongue in annoyance he saw that the kid had deliberately turned her back to him.

Connie nodded back to the younger girl, "No problem."

'She better not be up to anything stupid' Nic cursed, nothing good happened when she did things on her own.

Emma ran back over to where he was standing, "Once Marco brings the info I'm going to head back to the shop with Connie okay?" she looked up at him with innocent eyes, Nic groaned internally, he doubted that he could stop whatever it was she was up to, he nodded tersely. She beamed back at him, "Thanks Nic!"

"Be back by two," he signed giving her a stern look, he wanted to make sure they were completely prepared for tonight, and for extra time to stake out the building. Marco finally returned with a few pieces of paper in hand, seeing Connie at the end of the street his face lit up, she winked back at him without anyone else seeing their private exchange.

Papers safely stored away the pocket of her jacket, Emma turned to Worick before joining Connie in the van, "Can you make sure we have some tape, card, black powder and something like a makeup brush?"

"Sure, what for?" Worick asked, eyebrows raised in confusion.

"For taking fingerprints with, obviously," sticking her tongue out at him she climbed into the seat next to Connie waving as they drove away.

Emma double checked she had everything, two long knives attached to her belt one hanging from each hip, plus a small bag strapped to her lower back containing the supplies for taking the finger prints as well as a protective case for carrying the chemical they were after. Reaching into her rucksack she took out a small first aid kit, equipped with anything you might need to deal with minor cuts, plus a small candle and matches so she could sterilise a suturing needle in an emergency. Crouching down she unlaced and retied her trainers tightly, reaching a hand under the hem of her trousers she checked the straps holding the knife to her right calf were tight enough, satisfied she pulled on the dark gray hoodie slipping a smaller knife in to each sleeve, 'Doesn't hurt to be prepared,' zipping it up to protect against the cold night air she left the bathroom carrying her sword.

"Shouldn't a cat burglar be all dressed up in black leather," Worick teased, Emma snorted in reply to wired too think of a snappy comeback, reluctantly she leaned her sword against the wall where Nic and Worick kept most of their clothes. Worick's eyebrows shot up in surprise, "Not taking the trusty steel?"

Emma shook her head sadly already feeling strange without the familiar weight on her hip, "It'll just get in the way when I'm climbing, got to have the right tools for the job," she gave him a wink, he turned away pouting, upset at being left at home.

Nic gazed at her with understanding, it never felt quite right leaving behind his katana when he went out, "Let's go," the girl nodded following him out of the apartment, pulling on a pair of fingerless gloves, they walked down the street, the silence stretching out between them. As they approached the building Nic leapt up to the rooftop, Emma climbed up as quickly as she could, once she was near the top she took the hand Nic offered her, letting him pull her up, he grunted as he set her on her feet, "You're too heavy."

"Shut up," Emma playfully elbowed him in the side, the ghost of a smile touching her lips, she rubbed her elbow, 'He's solid as a boulder!'

Seeing some of the tension ease from her shoulders, Nic relaxed slightly, 'Good, if she's stressed then this whole thing falls apart,' he knew the amount of pressure she had placed on herself, this was her plan and she had taken on the most critical role, if they failed she would blame herself. Finally reaching the building they had done surveillance from the previous evening they stopped to catch their breath and wait for the night shift to take over, Emma stared at the Director's office mentally rehearsing the plan. Nic watched her with concern, the trembling in her hands looked like it would spread to the rest of her body any minute, sighing Nic placed his hand on her head. She started at his touch, completely absorbed in watching the office, "You sure you want to do this? I can easily to do this alone."

Emma averted her gaze from his unblinking stare, tightening her hands in to fists to stop the shaking, then she looked straight at Nic, eyes glowing with determination, "I've got this, besides I need you to create a distraction." Taking a few deep breaths to calm herself she fought back the tide of anxiety, "Once you see me half way up the building create a ruckus out front that'll hopefully draw their attention away from the office," peeking over the edge of the wall she couldn't see any movement around the front entrance, "day shift left a good half hour ago. Time to go." Nic smiled bitterly at her determination, it was one of the things he liked about her, she might be an idiot but she was a brave, determined idiot and that counted for something, he watched as she climbed down from the roof hoping that everything would go smoothly.


	4. Chapter 4

Nic cursed, he could see Emma's feet flailing in the air beneath her as she held onto the gutter with just her hands, bringing himself into a crouch prepared to launch himself off from the roof if he needed to catch her, holding his breath he watched as she hugged the gutter with her forearms then planted her feet on the wall.

'Not good, not good, not good,' a cold sweat trickled down her back, 'why did I forget I was afraid of falling?' Her heart was still in her mouth as she relived the last few terrifying moments, the bracket she'd been resting her feet on had broken off leaving her dangling in the air. Emma could almost feel Nic's glare burning a hole through her, it didn't lessen as she got a firm grasp on the wall with her feet. She began moving up the gutter again more carefully this time, the metal was ice cold beneath her fingertips, glad that she had decided to put on the gloves, she readjusted her position slightly angling herself away from the window above her.

"CREAK!" Freezing at the sudden noise she resisted the overwhelming urge to look up, trusting that her dark grey clothing made her blend into the building she tried to keep her breathing slow and steady, 'If they aren't expecting to see a girl clinging to a gutter halfway up a building then they won't, they might not even look down.' Her near fall hadn't pushed her hood back so her blonde hair shouldn't be catching the guard's attention, she only had to wait until they left, her fingers ached from holding up most of her body weight for so long but she didn't dare readjust her weight.

"Damn it!" Nic swore aloud, a guard had opened the window to the Director's office leaning out of it to have a smoke, Nic dropped straight from the roof to the ground, creating a dust cloud around his feet as he landed, 'Time for that distraction,' picking up a large rock he ran towards the main entrance of the building. It was the only building in Ergastulum that he knew that had glass doors, hurling the rock with all his strength it shattered the glass instantly, red lights flashed inside which he could only assume was accompanied by a blaring alarm. 'I hope this buys her enough time.'

Smoke wafted in her direction, Emma blinked a few times to chase away the irritation it caused her eyes, 'How long does it take to smoke a cigarette?' her entire body was aching from hanging still for so long. The guard above her cursed, hurriedly slamming the window shut, Emma breathed a sigh of relief as an alarm started blaring below her, 'Thanks Nic, nothing if not subtle,' resuming her climb she drew level with the window, it was only a couple of feet to her right. Kicking hard off the wall, Emma fell for half a second until her hands grabbed the stone window ledge, pulling herself up she managed to balance with her feet on the ledge, leaning her body against the window. Working the window open she smiled wryly, "Maybe that guard showing up was a stroke of luck, that window was probably locked before," she dropped into the office lightly carefully to make as little sound as possible, glancing around she double checked that no one was running toward the office, shouts drifted up the stairwell, "Good work Nic."

Reaching into the bag at her back Emma retrieved the makeshift fingerprint kit they had put together, holding a pen torch in her mouth she carefully sprinkled some of the black powder on the computer mouse, most of the fingerprints in the room should be the Director's but to minimise the risk of picking up someone else's she chose the mouse, it was unlikely he'd let anyone else use the computer considering it probably had sensitive information on it. Dusting off the excess with a makeup brush a clear print came up on the mouse, breathing a sigh of relief she carefully pressed some sellotape over the fingerprint, sticking her tongue out in concentration she lifted the tape off of the mouse and pressed it onto the piece of card. Biting down on her tongue she carefully lifted the tape off the card leaving a good impression of the fingerprint on it, "Phew," wiping some of the sweat from her forehead Emma hesitated before approaching the safe and replaced the equipment back in her bag dusting the excess powder off the desk, she'd practiced lifting fingerprints for most of the afternoon but wasn't sure how it would stand up to a biometric lock. Silently she swung the picture concealing the safe round on its hinges, gulping she approached the lock pad, placing her index finger behind the print on the card she pressed it onto the lock, "Moment of truth," she whispered to herself.

The beeping of the lock sounded loud in the quiet room, glancing anxiously over her shoulder Emma reassured herself that no one was coming, sounds of fighting could still be heard meaning Nic was still keeping the guards busy. A few more seconds ticked by until the lock lit up in green light, the door clicking open, letting out the breath she'd been holding Emma swung the heavy door open and ducked inside. The shelves inside were filled with flasks and test tubes, quickly scanning the rows she repeated the information they had gotten from Marco that morning, "The id code is XC25980R, it's an irritant, but non-flammable, XC25980R, XC25980R..." stretching on tiptoe to read the labels in the top shelf she finally found it, "Yes!" reaching up she gingerly took down the flask with the right code on it, it was tightly stoppered, but she quickly put it in the padded case she'd brought along. Closing the door to the safe behind her the red flash of light assured her it had relocked, 'Now to get out of here,' Emma thought as she was about to replace the picture frame back on its catch.

"Well, well, what do we have here," Emma's blood ran cold at the voice that came from behind her, turning around she saw a handsome young man leaning against the doorframe. "Looks like a cat's broken in," he took a couple of steps towards her, Emma's back hit the painting behind her, "what were you trying to steal little kitten?" She remained silent, her hood was still up hiding her face and hopefully the look of panic on it, "Haha, it doesn't matter if you don't tell me, your fate is the same either way," Emma gulped as he brushed his hair out of his amber eyes, in the dim light they almost seemed to glow.

'I have to get out of here now,' Emma made to dash for the window, but before she could even blink she found herself pinned to the wall, the tanned forearm pressed against her neck, 'it's so hard to breathe,' the man's amber eyes bore into her own, he slowly pulled back her hood revealing her face. Digging her fingernails into his forearm she struggled to release some of the pressure on her neck but he was too strong, a wheeze escaped her as he increased the pressure on her windpipe, "Let me go, I didn't get what I came here for, so why don't we call this quits huh?" Trying to sound as confident as possible was difficult when her voice came out like a strangled cat, but she kept her gaze steady not letting her fear get the best of her.

"Well seeing as it was such a cute kitten that tried to burgle us it would be a shame to kill you, but then again if I just let you go then what would my employers think? No one will hire a man who shirks his duty for a pretty face."

Emma snorted derisively, "Pretty face? Don't make me laugh," continuing she choked out, "no one has to know."

The man tutted scratching the back of his head with his free hand, he leaned in closer, so close that their noses almost touched, strands of his blood red hair falling across his eyes, "And what will you do to prove that I can trust you?" her heart pounded as his face got even closer, she couldn't even turn her head, then he blew lightly at her ear, she squeaked involuntarily kicking out at him. "Bad kitty," he tutted pinching her cheek, "if we can't have a little fun then I'll have to take care of you in a much less enjoyable way," he brushed a fingertip along her jawline.

Squirming under his touch, Emma averted her gaze from his, looking down she saw only the bottom couple of buttons of his shirt were done up exposing the planes of his well-muscled chest, heat rose to her cheeks 'Why am I looking at him like this? Actually wait why are the bad guys always so hot?' Looking up to stop herself ogling him she found herself sinking into his eyes like they were liquid pools of gold, 'Stop!' she slapped herself mentally, her lungs burned as she struggled to draw a breath, black spots edging in on her vision 'this is just the lack of oxygen talking.'

"Put her down!" The voice echoed loudly throughout the room.

The man turned around to look at the newcomer, "I hate interruptions," feeling the pressure on her neck loosen slightly Emma breathed in deeply. Drawing one of the knives at her waist she slashed at his forearm, "Ouch!" ducking under his arm as he moved it back instinctively, she ran across the room to stand by Nic, "Looks like this kitten is still to be housebroken," he glared at Nic, irritated at the interruption. "I knew the commotion downstairs was a decoy but I thought the guards might put up a little more of a fight."

Nic raised his sword pointing it directly at the man, he edged forward slightly hiding Emma behind him, she seemed a little shaken but otherwise fine, satisfied he turned back to face his opponent, the guy was casually inspecting the blood soaking through the silk shirt where Emma had slashed him, completely ignoring him. 'Who does this guy think he is?' feeling a tug on his t-shirt he turned one eye on Emma, she shrank back slightly under the intensity of his gaze.

"He's lightning fast, like faster than Doug," she signed her face full of concern, Nic grunted in reply, "sorry, I ..." he briefly placed a hand on her head comfortingly, then turned back to the man, removing the tags from around his neck he held them up.

"Hmm," the man looked up from inspecting the wound on his arm, seeing Nic's tags he laughed, "Ah the little A/0 thinks he can play in the big leagues, name's Alfie," retrieving a set of tags from his pocket he held them up for Nic to see, Emma let out an involuntary gasp, S/5, there were very few Twilights in the city ranked higher than Nic the only one that came to Emma's mind was Ginger from the Paulklee Guild, and she was definitely a lot faster than Nic.

'I've already maxed out on Celebrer,' Nic cursed silently, the best outcome for this scenario was at least giving Emma a chance to escape, hopefully she'd already sneaked into the safe before this guy had shown up, reaching one hand behind his back he signed "Run," to Emma. Not waiting to see her protest he leapt across the room swinging the katana down at Alfie's neck, the latter didn't move, smirking at the last minute he stopped the blade with one hand. Moving too fast for Emma to follow he threw Nic into the wall, the impact shaking the entire room, groaning Nic got to his feet, blood trickling down the right side of his face, in this small a space his katana was more of a hindrance, he reluctantly sheathed the blade lashing it to his belt.

As the match turned into hand to hand combat Emma watched on helplessly, 'Nic's completely outmatched, in speed and strength,' she hated to admit it, but it was true, despite only one rank separating them the gap in physical ability between the two was astounding, she cringed as Nic took another blow to the jaw crashing into the bookcase. Alfie barely looked out of breath, each blow was precise and powerful, he hoisted Nic up by the collar, seeing that demonic smile spread across his face pain squeezed at Emma's heart, 'He enjoys this far too much.' Driving his knee into Nic's solar plexus Alfie let him drop back onto the floor, he pressed the toe of his shoe into Nic's face pinning him to the floor, Emma silently crept up behind Alfie keeping out of his line of sight, long knives crossed in front of her she made to slash at him again.

Twisting his body around Alfie threw out a fist hitting her cheekbone, the force of the blow propelled her across the room knives clattering to the floor as they fell from her grasp, stunned she struggled to sit up, Alfie rolled his eyes, exasperated, "Now look what you made me do, there is no place for kittens in this fight, only tomcats allowed." Using the distraction Nic swung his forearm into the back of the taller man's knee forcing him off balance, rolling away Nic sprang to his feet landing a roundhouse kick to Alfie's ribs following it up with an elbow to his face. Alfie staggered back a few paces then lightly skipped to the other side of the room putting distance between himself and Nic, wiping at the blood pouring from his nose he cursed, "You'll regret that," enraged at the lack of reply he charged at the smirking figure.

Meeting him head on their fists connected sending a shockwave throughout the room, Emma sat beneath the windowsill a little scared at the intensity of the fighting between two such high level Twilights, shivering she watched them continue to exchange blows, after provoking Alfie, Nic seemed to hold his own a little more. 'His anger is probably affecting his judgement,' Emma realised, looking out she saw one of her knives lying a few feet away, Nic was pushing Alfie back towards the door, seizing her chance she slid across the floor grabbing the knife and stabbed it deep into Alfie's calf, then ripped it free as momentum carried her along the floorboards. Roaring in pain he tried to turn towards her but Nic quickly shoved him back out of range, Nic jumped behind the desk putting it between them and Alfie, Emma remained crouched by the corner of the desk.

"Sorry but I'm done playing with you," he drew the gun in one fluid motion, levelling it at Nic he pulled the trigger.

The gunshot sounded impossibly loud, everything seemed to slow down around her as the bullet headed straight for Nic's chest, she screamed his name flinging herself in front of him. Pain blossomed in the middle of her chest where the bullet struck, Nic watched helplessly as she collided with him then dropped limply to the floor, time froze for a second as he stared at her still body. An angry tide rose inside of him, picking up the desk he hurled it at Alfie who still had the gun pointed at him, he ran at him smashing his fist through the desk to reach the target of his rage, splinters flew in all directions but he barely noticed the cuts they left him, Alfie staggered to dodge the blow as it missed him by an inch. "I'm going to crush every bone in your body!" Nic bellowed unleashing a flurry of blows at Alfie.

Smirking Alfie blocked the fists flying his way, "She that special to you? A kid like that?" Nic only responded with more punches fuelled by his rage, grunting under the strain of the relentless flurry of attacks Alfie was forced back to the opposite wall, "I'm sick of this," catching the latest punch, he cocked the gun and pressed it to Nic's forehead. Nic froze, he wasn't as fast as this guy so he couldn't possibly move out of the way before he pulled the trigger, then again he might just kill him anyway, as he debated he saw something catch Alfie's attention.

"Drop the gun," Emma stood unsteadily by the exposed safe door, the tip of her knife hovering over the fingerprint scanner, Alfie just smiled at her, "I said drop it," ignoring the aching in her chest, she raised her voice.

Alfie whistled, slowly removing the gun from Nic's head he flicked the safety on, then holding out the gun at arm's length, he dropped it on the floor, "Wow, are you sure you're a normal surviving a hit like that?" Emma just stared him down, not trusting herself to reply, nodding towards the lock he added, "You sure you want to do that? You should know any tampering or damage to the lock will incinerate the safe's contents, willing to give up what you came for?"

Picking up the gun, Nic glanced at the young girl, there was a hole in her hoodie from the bullet but there wasn't any blood soaking the fabric, his relief was almost instantly replaced with confusion, 'That was a direct hit she should be dead, but wait did this guy show up before she got in the safe?'

"Better destroyed than left in your hands," her eyes held a steely glint of determination, driving the knife into the lock Emma flinched as a hissing sound came from within the safe followed by a wave of heat that she felt through the steel door, Alfie stood there dumbfounded as the fire in the safe quickly burned out. Taking the chance Nic scooped up Emma's other knife from the floor, then picked up the girl herself and jumped out of the window to the street below, entrusting herself to Nic she closed her eyes as the ground rushed towards her, he immediately ran for cover in the alleyway ducking into an abandoned building a couple of streets away.

He set Emma down on her feet, they were in a storeroom of the abandoned building Nic had picked, he smacked her around the back of the head firmly, clutching the back of her head she looked at Nic with a hurt look in her eyes, his gaze softened slightly and he pulled her into a loose hug. "Never do anything that stupid again," he scolded her, his voice loud in the empty room, too surprised to answer Emma nodded against his chest tears stinging her eyes, holding her at arm's length Nic looked at the lack of blood on her then pulled down the zip of her hoodie. 'How the hell did she get a vest?' he looked at the bulletproof vest she was wearing, the bullet still lodged in it, "Are you hurt?"

Emma shook her head, "Just bruised," she whispered, coughing she loosened the velcro straps of the vest, she could feel the bruise from where the bullet would've hit growing, making it harder to breathe, then she saw the deep gash in Nic's arm, "you're bleeding!" He tried to brush her off but she persisted, "If you keep bleeding like that you'll collapse plus if you bleed everywhere it'll just create a trail to follow, now sit."

Nic reluctantly sat down on the crate she pointed to, reaching into the bag she carried Emma pulled out a small suture kit, her pen torch and a candle. Lighting the candle, she held the tip of a pre-threaded needle in the flame for a few seconds to sterilise it, cleaning the wound with a little antiseptic she got to work, drawing the edges of the wound together she pushed the needle through the skin and back out the other side, working quickly she stitched the wound closed, taping some gauze over it. "Any more?" Emma asked, biting his lip Nic nodded then tugged his t-shirt over his head, his torso was covered in emerging bruises and minor cuts, but there was one below his collarbone that was a little deeper. Blushing slightly at the sight of Nic's chiseled body she kept her eyes focussed on the cut as she worked on closing it holding the pen torch in her mouth to give her good light in the dark storeroom, breathing out she handed him the t-shirt, grabbing hold of her hand he pointed towards his back then spun around on the crate. The cut on his back was small but deep, it was just below the tribal tattoo that covered his upper back and shoulders, Nic shivered as she gently traced a few older scars with her fingertips, "Sorry," she whispered knowing he couldn't hear her. Dabbing the antiseptic onto the wound, Nic tensed, Emma flinched at causing him more pain, but it was worth it if it stopped the wound getting infected later on, she finished by tapping a piece of gauze over the stitches, feeling totally drained she rested her head on his back for a few seconds.

Her breath tickling his skin Nic shifted slightly, causing her to sit up, he gingerly pulled the t-shirt on, careful to not pull on the stitches, Emma licked her fingers and put out the candle, tidying up her first aid supplies. Nic suddenly stiffened, "Someone's coming" he signed, pulling Emma with him, he ducked into a small cupboard in the corner of the room, Emma squeaked as he tugged her close to him, covering her mouth with his hand he pulled her close to him so he could close the door, it was a tight fit.

Her imagination ran wild at who might be wandering around, 'What if it's Alfie? I don't think Nic and I can beat him,' she knew they'd been lucky enough to escape once, but doubted the Twilight would let it happen a second time. As panic set in she began to hyperventilate, Nic lightly stroked her cheek with the thumb of the hand covering her mouth, and tightened the arm around her waist, 'I have to calm down or whoever it is will probably hear me.'

Feeling Nic's chest rise and fall behind her, closing her eyes she focused on matching her breathing to his, she slowly relaxed in his arms, 'Good girl,' Nic praised her silently, continuing to stroke her cheek, she could hear the footsteps outside the cupboard now but they didn't come any closer and slowly faded away. Her heart was nearly bursting out of her ribcage, being so close to him like this made the blood rush to her face, looking up at Nic he nodded, no longer sensing any danger he let go of his grip on her and opened the door, Emma stumbled out of the cupboard breathing in the cool air she turned away to hide her flaming cheeks, Nic turned her around to face him signing, "We should get going."

Emma nodded, "Yeah, should we stop off by Dr. Theo's first?"

"What for?" Nic asked puzzled, "You already stitched me up."

Emma looked back equally confused, "Well we need to give him what he asked for don't we?"

Nic's eyes widened in surprise, "You mean you got it"

Emma scoffed, turning her head away, "What do you take me for? I always get a job done." Reaching into her bag again she pulled out a small box, opening it revealed a small flask surrounded by cotton wool, "it's a miracle it didn't break, when Alfie saw me with the painting off its hook he thought I was about to try and open the safe but I'd already been in and out, sorry I had to make him believe I didn't get anything so he'd be less likely to come after us."

Nic ruffled her hair, smiling, "Good work." She closed her eyes for a second enjoying the warmth of his large hand, they exited the building by the window they had come through, Emma barely protested as Nic gently picked her up and jumped down to the street, although he landed lightly on his feet she still felt the impact, the bruise on her chest aching.

They ghosted through the back alleys until they reached Theo's clinic, as usual the lights were still on even though it had gotten quite late, Emma placed the box containing the chemical on the desk before perching on one of the clinic's beds allowing Nic to explain what had happened. Taking off her hoodie she carefully peeled the velcro straps away, she flinched at the noise of the velcro separating but Nic and the doctor seemed too engrossed in their conversation to notice, tossing it aside she gently massaged the growing bruise, a purple, blue star bursting across the centre of her chest. Stretching experimentally, nothing else hurt too much, 'That'll be a different story in the morning,' she rubbed her neck a little, shivering as she remembered the way Alfie had choked her, 'it's probably bruised too.'

"She did what?!" Emma shrank back at Theo's shout, he stood by the bed towering over her, "What on earth were you thinking jumping in front of a bullet? You could've been killed!" Nic frantically waved at him but Theo ignored him, his angry glare terrifying her.

Emma looked down at her clenched fists, "My body just moved on its own, there wasn't really any thinking involved," her voice barely above a whisper in the face of Theo's anger, "it's not really a big deal though, I'm fine."

"Let me see," Theo ordered, her hand hovered at the collar of her t-shirt, "now," hearing his voice soften just a fraction Emma pulled down the collar revealing the upper edges of the bruise. "Fine," he sighed after examining the bruise quickly, "none of us says a word of this to Nina," he warned, tone provoking only meek nods from the two of them, as they made to leave the clinic he called out one last time, "I prefer the idiots in my clinic to be alive, try and keep it that way both of you."

They walked back to the apartment in silence, still on edge both of them glanced around at regular intervals but no one seemed to be following them, reaching the stairs leading to the apartment Nic lightly pulled on Emma's arm, he motioned for her to sit on the steps, she'd been fearing a more extensive lecture from him, biting her lip she kept her eyes firmly on her shoes. Nic lifted up her chin with a finger but Emma still looked away from him, not needing any further scolding, sighing Nic spoke aloud to get her attention, "That shot would've killed me, why did you protect me?"

Finally looking him in the eye she replied, "You're my friend, of course I would protect you."

"I'm on borrowed time anyway, the reason I was born was to kill and die to protect normals. My life isn't worth..." his cheek stung as the slap hit him with full force, the skin burned against the cold air as he continued, he lifted up the tags holding them in between the two of them. "I'm not the same as you and Alex and Worick, I'm a weapon to be used, a monster, I can't even pretend to be like you." He said it matter-of-factly his expression twisted into a bitter smile, he'd heard it hundreds of times even from his own father: Monster, inhuman, aberration, it didn't matter to him anymore, his life was too short for him to care enough.

Emma used her whole body weight to push him onto the ground, surprised Nic let himself fall onto the road, she punched his face as hard as she could, "Never say that again," tears dripped onto his face as she cried over him, "I won't let my friends die if there's even a chance I can save them I'll take it, even if it costs my own life. You aren't a monster or disposable, people care about you; Worick, Alex, Nina, Dr. Theo, Inspector Adkins, Mr. Monroe, Marco, Connie, Granny Joel, me, you're our friend, if you're not there who'll buy Nina soda or make Worick get up, or save Mr. Monroe's butt, or break the clinic or give Chad a headache or tease Alex, or play professional hide and seek with me." Her voice cracked as the tears continued to rain down on Nic, "You. Are. Human." Nic accepted the punches that accentuated each of those three words, "It doesn't matter if you're stronger or faster than most people or if you're different, you're still a person, you laugh with us, get annoyed, enjoy things, you get hurt just like everyone else, you're worth just as much as anyone else in this city, worth more than some so called 'normals' who hurt people for the fun of it. You protect people, you're warm and kind and, and, and nothing would be the same without you." She couldn't go on anymore, her voice became lost as she cried her fist lightly hitting Nic's face once more, crying noisily Emma collapsed onto his chest unable to stop the tears, Nic wrapped an arm around her stroking her hair, feeling his warmth her crying intensified, chest wracked with sobs.

They lay there in the street as Emma cried into him, 'No one ever told me that I really mattered before,' even Worick, his closest friend, had only told him to live so that he could pay for what he'd done, feeling the sobs subside slightly he slowly sat up keeping one arm around the crying girl he used the other to keep his balance.

Emma looked up at him, her face a mess of snot and tears, her mouth twisted in a line as she struggled to hold back another flood of tears, swallowing the urge to cry she croaked out, "You're not allowed to die, you're too important. I won't let you." Throwing her arms around him she squeezed him tightly, burying her face in his chest again Emma hiccuped between small sobs, her tears had already soaked through his t-shirt a while ago, the material itched her face as she rubbed against it eyes red raw from the crying.

Her order for him not to die felt so different from when Worick commanded the same thing all those years ago, this time it was out of genuine concern for him as a real person as opposed to the bitter anguish of a thirteen-year-old boy. 'Thank you,' Nic softly pressed his lips into her hair, the touch so brief Emma would later convince herself she imagined it, now resting his chin on her head, he rubbed her back slowly as her breathing gradually returned to normal. Releasing him from her hug Emma sat back swiping away her tears with the heel of her hands, catching her hands Nic stopped her from rubbing the skin around her eyes raw, he softly brushed away the remaining tears with his thumb, sniffing Emma wiped the snot off her face, suddenly glad that Nic couldn't have heard her ridiculous crying fit. Realising that she was still in his lap, Emma scrambled to her feet, looking away she held out her hand to Nic, grabbing it he pulled himself up, Emma tugged him along as if making sure he wouldn't disappear only letting go once they reached the door, once inside she ran to the bathroom hiding her tear and snot stained face.

Smiling at her childishness, Nic collapsed onto the sofa, "How'd it go?" Worick asked, whispering to avoid waking Alex who slept with her head on his shoulder, raising his hand in a thumbs up he closed his eyes for once falling asleep almost instantly, a weight felt like it had been lifted off of his shoulder, allowing him to sleep soundly for one of the first times in his life his heart.


End file.
